Hyderabad: Staff crunch in Food Safety wing hits inspections in GHMC, CMC and MMC

A severe shortage of Food Safety Officers is affecting inspections of eateries across GHMC, Cyberabad and Malkajgiri limits. Officials say over 4,500 sanctioned posts remain vacant, hampering monitoring of food safety and hygiene despite the rapid growth of restaurants and food businesses.

Hyderabad: With the eating-out concept catching up, the absence of effective monitoring of eateries of all levels for food safety and hygiene has become glaring in the city and suburbs.

Despite numerous eateries coming up across the city and its expanding suburbs, their monitoring has been an issue, with limited inspections due to a shortage of staff in the Food Safety wings of the civic bodies.

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According to officials, over 4,500 sanctioned Food Safety Officer posts are vacant and the GHMC had approached the MA&UD several times seeking recruitment. “This correspondence has continued over the past several years and is awaiting a nod,” a senior GHMC Food Safety wing official told Telangana Today.

Special drives on commercial establishments, eateries, restaurants and bakery and confectionery units are being conducted with a skeletal staff. Though schools have reopened, inspections of eateries near educational institutions are yet to be taken up, another official said.

In the Cyberabad Municipal Corporation (CMC) limits, the Food Safety wing relies on decentralised teams allotted by the GHMC. In the recent past, scores of eateries, from eat streets to star hotels, have come up in Cyberabad, but monitoring for violations of the Food Safety and Standards Act (FSS Act), 2006 has been less than effective. A similar situation prevails within the Malkajgiri Municipal Corporation (MMC) limits.

Last month, the GHMC imparted training to 300 street food vendors (SFVs), but there is no clarity on how the civic body intends to track whether these vendors follow food safety and hygiene practices.

Officials said there have been a series of raids and inspections followed by necessary action against hotels, supermarkets and grocery units, but conceded that, given the spread of the city and the growing number of eateries, there was a need for more concerted efforts to ensure food safety and hygiene.